LA Angels Series Preview: Orioles @ Angels (5/1/18)

It’s a new month for the LA Angels, and with that comes new opportunities to put their best foot forward. The Halos faced a serious implosion in the second half of April with only three wins in the last twelve days. Though the schedule may seem like it’s easing up with the Orioles coming into town, the team at 8-20 on the season, the Angels will need to be beyond their best to bring success back to Anaheim.

It’s been a tough stretch for the LA Angels so far; an incredible start to the season hitting a titanium wall in the Red Sox, the Angels blowing highly contested games, the team generally deflating themselves at every opportunity. While there is no shortage of criticism to levy at the team the only thing that can be done now is look towards the keys for success.

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Tuesday, 5/1; 7:07PM PT: Alex Cobb (0-3, 13.11 ERA) vs Nick Tropeano (1-2, 4.67 ERA)

Wednesday, 5/2; 7:07PM PT: Dylan Bundy (1-3, 2.97 ERA) vs Andrew Heaney (0-1, 6.91 ERA)

Thursday, 5/3; 7:07PM PT: Chris Tillman (1-4, 7.03 ERA) vs TBA

I still wish Gene Autry was around to tell these cowboys to slow it down. The Angels pitchers are throwing like they’re on fire, and not in the motivating way. They’re burning themselves on the mound almost every start, the lack of consistency offers zero confidence while most of these starters constantly play with uptrends and downtrends without a solid base-line performance. Even Garrett Richards is an uncertainty when he takes the mound.

While it’ll be up to Tropeano to bolster the Angels good fortunes it will be up to the offense to kickstart them. Alex Cobb has struggled phenomenally this season, he hasn’t pitched more than 4.2 innings in his three starts, and in each start he’s allowed at least 5 ER. Even more promising is his even 10 hits allowed in every start so far, something that bodes well for the Angels offense and the wet newspapers they’ve been swinging as of late.

Bundy is an ice-cold killer on the mound, and while his last start saw him give up 7 runs in 4.2 innings he’s typically floating around 6 IP and 1 ER performances. Despite his wholesale slaughter of the opposition baseball karma caught on with his last outing. Unfortunately that may also mean the Angels missed on the opportunity to bring him to justice. However, with Andrew Heaney on the job, his last outing against the Yankees seeing him pitch five innings of one run ball, the Angels may be set to reel Bundy in just yet.

What to look out for 

• Mike Trout doesn’t lead the MLB in HR’s anymore. While he may not be the type of player to wring his hands over personal stats I don’t think the baseball gods are happy to see their chosen one outshone. All the opportunities to jump ahead of the pack once again lay within this Orioles series. If the struggling Alex Cobb and Chris Tillman aren’t enough to jumpstart his engine I’m not sure what can.
• The Angels have been very hard to watch in the last two weeks, and if you choose to avoid this series over how excruciating they’ve been to watch I can’t blame you. However, if you do choose to watch you may see the Angels hitters swinging with a vengeance after being outscored by the Yankees 5 to 17.

Next: Time to Move on From Kole Calhoun

It hasn’t been a fun stretch for the Halos and fans alike, but stick with it and things will bounce back to where they stood at the beginning of April. With Mike Trout there is no other option but success